Exam (It's GOT to be BYOO-ti-fullll)

Today began with an short-essay exam, the questions of which we already knew; it was less than easy to pound through thus. Afterward, we jumped into making a sautéed NY strip steak with pan sauce, blanched green beans and pomme persiade (pan fried cubed potatoes with garlic and parsley). Unlike Chef M, who assigned everyone a start time and a presentation time, Chef C just let us start and sign up for presentation whenever we liked.

In other news: Beans. The trick is to boil them in salted water for no more than 30 seconds, then rush them into ice water, then put them immediately onto paper to dry. Then throw them into a hot pan with clarified butter and salt to reheat, bada bing, bada bean boom.

The steak sat in a pan with clarified butter after being trimmed of fat and rubbed with salt. About 3 minutes on one side without moving, 2 minutes on the other without moving, then sat on the rack until the end. In the pan I fried up shallots, deglazed with red wine, then tossed in some veal stock to reduce. Strained for a fancy looking sauce.

Made a careful medium (1/2 inch) dice of potatoes, and added extra clarified butter to the pan to get a pan-fry going instead of a sauté. The potatoes were placed in cold salted water then brought up to a boil, then immediately taken out and dried on a rack. Thrown into the hot butter, and consistently moved until evenly golden brown. Drained the fat, threw in some cold whole butter, then garlic and parsley for the last 30 seconds (any longer and parsley will brown).

Plated the beans and the 'tatoes. The steak was quickly heated in the bean pan and plated north of the pool of sauce. Went to a private office with Chef C, where he graded. Steak was perfectly medium rare, potatoes golden brown and hot, string beans bright green and snappy but cooked. He asked me if I had any complaints, and I simply said it was a bit rough having chefs changed mid-mod with such different personal styles, and left it at that. I was eating by 10am, we were out by 11am.

The class had a good vibe, as no one had to work with each other and everyone worked at their own pace. Of course, Speedy was dead last. So endeth module 2. Next Monday, a new chef and a new direction.

ADDENDA:

Tomorrow night, I'm assisting Chef C in a "Signature Dishes From Classic American Steakhouses" recreational class. I do hope Dirty Kim comes, it's more fun with her. My team will be doing two dishes from Peter Luger: Tomato and Vidalia Onion Salad with Steak House Sauce Dressing and German-Style Hash Browns, as well as a skirt steak with red wine mojo and orange salsa. Damn, I've been eating a lot of steak lately.

Students are starting to go trail at restaurants to figure out where they might extern. I feel like such a wet noodle, just not sure if I want to swing it in a restaurant or go whole hog into media somewhere....or do the resto informally, and the media formally....

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM TASTING: 10am, strip steak with pan sauce, pomme persiade, sauteed string beans, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, piece of coffee cream roll, piece of lemon cream roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dirty Kim & I snuck into a pastry class room to eat some student work.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, 3 ears corn with buter & salt, homemade pizza, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5